Introducing Amelia Kay!!

I had a doctor's appointment on Monday morning in Peoria, and while I had made plans to return to the office afterwards, my car just HAD to go to Chicago, and I couldn't control it!! Why? Because my new niece was born on Monday morning at Evanston Northwestern Hospital!

Six weeks early, Amelia Kay (the Kay is after her four aunts and mom who all have names beginning with "K"!) weighed in at 5 pounds 12 ounces and is 18 inches long! She is doing just great...breathing on her own, took 2-3 bottles yesterday with ease, and has graduated to the stage 2 isolette because she's doing so well at controlling her own temperature. Let me also say, she has quite the set of lungs on her too! I think that her little screams were her own way of saying she wanted to spend some time with her mommy and daddy, and while new dad Ben had pretty easy access to her, it took almost 24 hours before mom Kori got to see her as much as she wanted. Kori's c-section made it difficult for her to be mobile enough to go down to the NICU as much as she wanted Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. Everyone is doing well, and I can't wait to see baby Amelia again this weekend!

Here are some pics from her actual birthday. I ended up staying the night in Chicago and coming home yesterday; so, I'm playing catch-up today and will post more pics tonight!

We love you, Amelia!!!

Today's the Big Day!

Today is Baby Girl Machlitt's birthday! Myself, I am so excited that I couldn't get back to sleep when I woke up at 4:30 am and the thought struck me that in a little over five hours, Kori and Ben would get to see their new daughter! Grandma Cooper and Aunt Karen are at the hospital now to greet the new member of the family, and Aunt Kim and Cousin Jacob will be there this afternoon!

Oh, I can hardly stand it! I am so excited!!

My biggest worry is that everyone there will not be technologically advanced enough to take a picture with their cell phone and send it to the rest of us so we can see the new little lady!!! Man! I can't take it!!!

Beware of ALL Drop Ceilings

So, for the last two months, Nick and I have been working on the basement. We put carpet in last year, and one of us wanted to get rid of the old, haggard drop ceiling, and the other (not to mention any names!) wanted to keep it. We kept it....until we discovered what was hiding up there. Let's just say that when a house sits empty for two winters in a row, drop ceilings are where all the creepy, crawly things in the country go to live...and die. Are you disgusted yet?

While I was in MN over the 4th of July, Nick and his brother took all of the tiles out, but it wasn't until this last week when Nick bought a new weight set and wanted to put it in the basement that we decided it was time to finish the project and begin taking down the framing and the insulation that was in the floor joists...another completely disgusting task. After Nick and I attached each of the lights to the floor joists themselves, I worked on taking apart the frame while Nick removed the insulation the first night. We didn't get it all done that night, and even though I wore a mask while down there, it was decided that Nick would have his friends help finish the task...and they would all wear masks too...that was the level of disgusting we're talking about here. We'll never look at another drop ceiling the same way again!

Anyway, happy day, happy day! The carpet cleaner is coming today. The basement carpet is getting disinfected, and it will soon be usable once again! Here are a few pix of us digging in and getting the work done.

Kendall's Wedding

Yesterday at lunch I was reading the Mattoon paper and read this column. I wish it had been accompanied with pictures. None-the-less, I am SURE that we will need to do the combine thing when Kendall gets married....and if we're lucky, maybe it will be on the CMT show "Redneck Weddings!"

Click here to read article.

I'm in Big Trouble

I know, I'm in big trouble.

I read somewhere that blogs are like sitcoms - when people tune in week after week for a repeat episode, they eventually quit watching. For almost a month, it must have seemed like the same episode of "Seinfeld" has been on TV. I'm sorry! It's been a very, very busy month. I spent the first weekend in MN visiting Kim's family, and the next two weekends were spent in KY assisting my friend Cydil, who is a photographer near Lexington, shoot two weddings. It's been a lot of fun, but I've been exhausted. So, this last weekend was my first weekend home in July, and it was spent catching up on to-do's.

The second reason I'm in trouble is because shortly before I left for MN, I had the pleasure of shooting family pictures for Brea, my good friend from Deere, and also whom I met Nick through. Nick and her husband, Ryan, lived in the same house in college. I had warned Brea that it would be a while before I got them all done, but I hadn't planned on it taking this long. Since I've been gone each weekend, my evenings were spent running errands, cleaning, and keeping up on the checkbook! Plus, as most of you know, I've been going to bed REALLY early nowadays! It's been hard to keep up! Anyways, I've been working diligently in getting Brea and Ryan's family pictures done, and I offer her this little preview as a token of my apologies!

ps - Lesson Learned: While the last time I took pictures of children I learned not to have lots of people around, this time I learned to at least have one other person around to get the kids' attention!!! :)

Brea and her little girl that was born this year.

Ryan and their son.

Harms Family Pictures

Tonight I got to see my good friends, Brea and Ryan Harms. Their family is growing; so, I had the honor of shooting their updated family portrait with 2-year old Carter and 4-month old Addison. There were TONS of good pictures once I uploaded them to my computer (it's so hard to tell on a 2" LCD screen!). More will be posted, but here were a couple of my favorites.


While we have plenty of formal, posed shots, I'm a sucker for the shots like these...the more informal ones that show a bit of emotion!


Like any two-year old, Carter was pretty distracted by the water we were shooting near. It is just WAY too much fun throwing leaves and sticks into the water.

I Love My Family: Part 2

I am heading to MN (aka "the great Nort") next week to celebrate the 4th of July with my sisters Kim and Kendall. My aunts Stacy and Gail are going...along with my mom. Gail and I have made this 4th of July trip for many years (except last year, I think). This is Mom and Stacy's first time to experience staying up until 3 am playing cards and sitting on Kim's deck until 1 pm drinking coffee until we're downright shakey.

Today, this box arrived in my office for me. Courtesy of Kendall, I now have Elton John sunglasses, a party hat, and crazy beads to wear for the big 4th of July party. And, for those of you going with me next week, don't laugh....she sent some for you too! :)

Thank you, Kendall! Can't wait to see you next week! Love you! Kelly